Too Late
by KnightMysterio
Summary: His name is Duo... And this is the story of his greatest failure... Rated for violence, implied torture, and death...


**TOO LATE**

**The 'Relics' Saga**

**A Mega Man Classic fanfic**

By Jonathan "KnightMysterio" Spires

_All characters copyrighted to Capcom and used without permission for non-profit amusement purposes. Note that I tend to use a mix of US names and Japanese names depending on preference. Comments, compliments, and constructive criticism are appreciated, unreasonable flames will be ignored. Thank you and enjoy. Set during the Cataclysm, part one of five._

My name is, as it translates into human language, is Duo.

I am an advanced mechanical life form, capable of independent thought and emotion. Who my creators are is unknown to me, sadly enough. All I truly have is my purpose: To eradicate the 'Evil Energy' from the universe. It is a corrupting force, one that turns everything it touches to filth, turns good men evil and makes evil men worse.

I had fought it for years alongside others of my kind, fighting endlessly until only two sources of evil energy were. I went to confront one. The only other survivor of my kind, Slur, went to confront the other.

After an epic battle that lasted ages, a battle I thankfully won, both I and the wreckage of my Evil Energy-possessed foe landed on Earth, my body going into stasis to repair itself. Landing on Earth would have would have been fine, I always enjoyed exploring new worlds. But the problem was that a madman named Dr. Albert Winston Wily had somehow gotten a hold of the wreckage of my foe, tapping into the Evil Energy that remained in him to power eight deadly super robots, which I later learned were called Robot masters, and lead them on an attempt to conquer the world. But with the help of another robot, a young machine boy named Rock, dubbed 'Mega Man' by the planet's media, Dr. Wily's plans were thwarted.

I stayed around for a while afterwards. Rock and his family were amusing company, and it was good to feel like I belonged somewhere. I even helped them on another mission against Wily. Eventually Slur tracked me down again, having successfully defeated her opponent and eliminated his energy. I left with her, and we traveled the stars together.

I am not ashamed to say that I grew to love Slur. We became lost in each other, grew a closeness, a bonding, far beyond the mere physical that you humans seem to savor so greatly.

We journeyed for seeming ages, finding no trace of the evil energy and growing less and less interested in finding it. We wanted to be together, to experience each other…

And then I sensed it…

Something horrible was happening on Earth once again, a terror that wasn't the Evil Energy, but so very, very similar. And what's more, I sensed it was directly happening to my friends.

Slur and I flew back to Earth as fast as we could. So fast did we fly, that space seemed but a blur to us. Eventually, we arrived back at Earth.

But as we got close enough for our long range vision to see what was happening, I saw we were much too late to do anything of value.

A red-armored robot, the size of a young adult, was quite literally tearing through the eight Robot Masters belonging to one Doctor Mikhail Sergeyevitch Cossack. The brutally mangled ruins of Rock, his sister Roll, Blues, and at least sixteen other Robot Masters scattered about, along with the gory remains of Doctor Cossack himself, the war machine he was in having been torn open as if it were tinfoil. Doctor Light and his support unit Auto stood near the entrance to an underground facility, a terrified and badly damaged Rush limping away from the battle. For some reason unbeknownst to me, Doctor Cossack's daughter, Kalinka, was there as well, screaming in terror as she cowered behind the wreckage of one of the Robot Masters. It was only because of the bits of glass and light bulb around it that I recognized the twisted, misshapen pile of slag as Brightman.

The red-armored robot finished destroying Ringman, peeling the smaller robot apart with his own rings, and turned his attention to Pharaohman. As we entered Earth's atmosphere, we saw the battle between the red-armored robot and Pharaohman proceed. It was obvious that the latter's combat capacity had been greatly upgraded, Pharaohman battering the robot with cybernetic vipers that coiled around his limbs in an attempt to crush them, mummy-wrappings that secreted acid when wrapped around a target, and his own trademark Pharaoh Waves. But the red-armored android tore through all of Pharaohman's weapons as if they weren't even there. We arrived just as the red-armored android had grabbed Pharaohman by the throat, his arm morphing into a powerful buster weapon.

Slur and I landed in the battlefield with a crash, sending a shockwave that knocked around everyone that was still alive, and sent Pharaohman flying away from the red-armored killing machine, the Egyptian-themed Robot Master immediately flying over to protect Kalinka, the girl screaming in maddened fear.

The red-armored creature was truly a demonic sight to behold. His helmet curved up on either side in horn-like waves, a grin of pure insanity on his face. His blood-and-gore stained armor gave the impression of a knight from hell, and the bizarre, blonde-haired ponytail on his head looked more like a demon's tail.

"MONSTROSITY!" I bellowed, "YOU WILL KILL NO MORE!!"

I barely noticed Slur as she looked around the battlefield, shivering in horror at the destruction, both here and the bloody path he carved getting here. The creature just stared at us for a moment, and then laughed maniacally.

"I am… ZERO…" it said, giggling shrilly, "My function… DESTROY…"

With no further word, this beast, this Zero thing, attacked Slur and I.

The battle that followed was almost disappointing. I almost wanted it to be more challenging, if only to feel the satisfaction of making the creature's suffering last longer after all the damage it had done. Instead, it only increased my feelings of guilt for not being there.

I alone would have been enough to defeat the creature. But with Slur there, Zero was overwhelmed. He was a fierce combatant, and we could see how he would have easily defeated Rock and the others. But his tremendous power was no match for our combined skill. Our gauntlets battered the murderous super robot into the floor, leaving him a smoldering wreck.

Once he was down, I prepared to finish the job. I raised my gauntleted fist over the robot's head and chest, ripping open his armor and exposing his main core. I channeled as much energy as I could into my gauntlet, wanting to end Zero once and for all.

I brought my fist down, ready to end the madness forever…

…and froze, my mind becoming overwhelmed by a vision of the future.

In it, I saw Zero and another robot, one that looked like a more adult version of Rock in his Mega Man armor. But this Zero was no mad killing machine… This Zero had a more… heroic air about him…

I watched, in growing confusion and horror, as I saw this Zero fight bravely against a mad monstrosity of a mechanism, risking himself along side this new Mega Man to save a city of humans, a city I could sense normally hated and feared the two of them.

The vision faded, and I staggered back away from Zero. I guess Slur could sense what I had seen, because she came to me and asked what I had seen. I told her, and she reluctantly convinced me that we should preserve Zero's life.

The very notion disgusted me… That this murderer, this monstrosity, this living monument to Dr. Wily's madness should live while all my friends died… It was abominable… It was unthinkable…

Gods above forgive me, it's the only right thing to do…

For I have seen the future… I know that Zero plays a major part in it, in preserving humanity…

I have no choice, but to take Zero's body and put it into stasis for repairs back at the ruins of Dr. Wily's lab. I hear the outraged screams of Kalinka, Dr. Light, and the other survivors…

Their hateful words stab into me like a knife… But I must do this… For the sake of the future, I must do this…

* * *

Duo and Slur landed deep within the mountains, the smaller, white-cloaked female robot putting her ungauntleted hand on Duo's shoulder. Duo glared furiously at the battered, broken figure in his arms, taking a moment to calm himself so he didn't just crush Zero's wreckage right then and there.

"You must not let their words disturb you, Duo," she said, he glowing gold of her optics shimmering like stars in the darkening night, "They do not understand the burden of preserving the future."

"They were my friends," Duo said, his normally thundering voice softened to a pained whisper, "I wasn't there to protect them. And when I do show up, I let the one that murdered them all live. Just for some vague vision…"

Slur bit her lip, and sighed. "Duo…"

Duo shrugged her hand off of his massive shoulder. "It is… hard to explain… The emotions I have begun to feel since meeting you, since meeting Rock and the others… I wish I could help you understand…"

Slur frowned, and lowered her head. She didn't know what to say to him, for she was going through the same thing.

Duo shook his head and sighed, lumbering into the mountaintop fortress that used to be Dr. Wily's latest lair, the coordinates having been retrieved from Zero's database. What he saw inside however made him gape in horror.

It was carnage. There was no other word for what had gone on in this ruin. Sniper Joes lay in twisted, mangled wrecks. Metools parts were smeared across the walls in what looked like abstract art. The gooey wreckage of a Bio-Devil lay all around the entry hall.

Things got worse the further they went in. The brutality got worse. When they started finding wreckage of Robot Masters, they saw that the robots had quite literally been tortured to death. Circuits laid bare, armor reduced to slag, the list of murderous details grew larger and larger. Some, like Knightman and Yamatoman, had gotten lucky and only been murdered by their own weapons. Duo looked around, and saw the remains of Forte and Gospel near the ruins of what must have been a communications array, the warrior robot and wolf robot quite literally having been cut in half by some sort of beam weapon.

It was barbaric.

"Gods above…" said a voice. Duo turned, seeing Slur leaning in the doorway. She had no digestive tract, but she looked ready to throw up despite that. "Zero did all this?" she asked, her voice quivering.

Duo just nodded solemnly. "The last act of a madman," he said, stepping through another door, pausing. He sighed, and added, "An act that brought about his end…"

Slur peered into the doorway, and staggered. Her expression betrayed the fact that she was on the verge of tears and wished her body had the capacity to do so.

A bloody, gory mess lay near a capsule, one just barely recognizable has human remains. The bloody lab-coat nearby was the only clue left that the human was Dr. Wily.

"This is… this…" Slur said, horror evident on her face, "I cannot believe that this was done without Evil Energy."

"Do you detect any?" Duo asked bitterly, "Do you detect any of that accursed force, anywhere in the world? No… No, this is a result of one man's cruelty and evil. My only consolation is that it consumed him as well, and he will never harm anyone again."

Gently, Duo placed Zero's wreckage inside the capsule, which was strangely intact. He went over to the one remaining intact console and activated it. He punched in a few settings, and the capsule sealed.

A garbled electronic voice turned on, saying, "Repair sequence initiated for Unit Designate WUM-000: Codename Zero. WARNING: Damage is extensive. Estimated time of repair: 37 years."

Slur stared at Zero's form inside the capsule as energy washed over it, slowly repairing the mechanism's shattered, broken limbs and armor.

"He looks so peaceful," she said.

Duo shook his head sadly. "His mind is anything but. My only hope is that the future will be better equipped to handle him than we are now…"

Slur stared at Zero for a long moment, running a smooth, white-gloved hand over the capsule the robot slept in. "Are you sure of what you saw?"

"I am sure," Duo said, sighing, "I am sure of my visions. I am sure that Zero is important for the future. And I am certain that the irony of all this, of having to save the one I was too late to stop from slaughtering so many, is sickening…"

+ The End +


End file.
